


Say Goodbye, One Last Time

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, My First Fanfic, Probably ooc, i don't know how to tag, sad i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 04:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12809175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nico attempts to contact Bianca. He gets someone else instead.





	Say Goodbye, One Last Time

Nico just wanted to say goodbye, one last time. 

This would be the last time he tried this-he was moving on, really this time. So Nico told Will his plan, and here they were, three days later (they'd had to wait for the camp vans to be free, after all, and then find someone to drive them), standing at the edge of a hole in the ground, bags of Happy Meals around third feet. Will was covered in dirt up to his knees-he had refused to let Nico dig, saying Nico needed his strength for later.

Well. He wasn't wrong. Calling up ghosts-especially stubborn ones-was absolutely exhausting.

Will turned to him then, looking slightly worried, and Nico realized he'd been standing at the edge of the hole, motionless, for quite a while.

Nico started, smiling weakly at Will before bending to pick up one of the Happy Meals that crowded his feet. He poured the contents into the hole, repeating the process until only empty bags surrounded them. The hole, now filled to the top with dark liquid, glinted a challenge at Nico, sunlight filtering through the dense canopy above them.

Nico took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, to stop the nagging chorus of it won't works and your weaks and she doesn't want to see you's.  
Will grabbed his hand, silent and supporting beside hm.

Nico fixed an image of her firmly in the front of his mind, and began to chant. He called on the spirits of the dead, commanding then to bring him the one he wanted, that he was the Ghost King and he was to be listened to, immediately.

As always, the clearing they'd chosen darkened, white mists of spirits trying to push forward crowding the tree line. Will, who wasn't a fighter and had never seen this before, was pale and nervous. His hand, still clasped tightly with Nico's, grew slick with sweat. Nico squeezed his the hand in his without breaking the chant.

Nico could almost feel the power and energy draining from him, making him grow dizzy. This wasn't supposed to happen-calling ghosts wasn't supposed to take this much power, not one as recently dead as his sister. Unless......

Unless it wasn't his sister who was answering him, but someone older, much older, and dead for far longer.

The moment he realized this, Nico stopped chanting, trying to pull the power back into him, to dispel the spirits-but he couldn't. Though he stopped chanting, it was late enough for it not to matter. The energy he tried desperately to pull back continued to pour from him, pulled faster and faster and faster until...

A figure arises, hovering above the menacingly glinting liquid that fills the hole in the ground. It stoops to drink before Nico can move to stop it. The figure fills in, becomes solid, face appearing and striking through Nico's heart with memories. They flash across his mind, a leak in a dam turning to a roaring wave, busting down walls he didn't know we're there.

The figure standing before him, all olive skin and dark curls and laughing eyes, paled and faded almost transparent, is Maria di Angelo.

Nico gasps, tears in his eyes, resisting the urge to sink to the ground and bury his face in his knees. 

Hurridly, before Will can see-Will's still staring at the ghostly figure in confusion- Nico sweeps the tears from his eyes with his free hand. 

He's about to speak, the silence almost overpowering and thick when tension, when Maria does instead.

"Oh, my darling. You're all grown up, my sweet boy." Nico opens his mouth to reply when he realizes Will is leaning into him, whispering in his ear. "What is she saying? That doesn't sound like English or Greek, sunshine," and Nico replays what Maria had said in his head, realizes it's in Italian. He whispers back that he'll tell Will later before turning to Maria, who's watching them with a slight smile.

"You have found your love, then, my dear? Ah, isn't it wonderful, being in love?" Nico blushes, wondering how she can tell. Then he remembers-his and Will's hands are clasped together, and Will had leaned into him and whispered in his ear in a way a friend wouldn't have. Face still hot, he speaks finally.

"Why are you here? Where's Bianca?"

"Ah, I thought I raised you with better manners, my child." She chides, then sighs. "Can a mother not wish to say goodbye to her favorite son, dear?" 

Nico blinks, opens his mouth, but she's speaking again.

"I love you very much, my dear. And I never got to properly say farewell." 

"Why now? Where's Bianca? I just wanted to say goodbye-"

"Bianca has been reborn, my son. I thought, since she will not be able to come, why not I use this to say how proud I am of you? How much I love you? How I wish so I had held you one last time, how I wish to say farewell, my wonderful, beautiful son? And, of course, I had to make sure this young man is worthy of you. I approve, my son."

She stops suddenly, a sad look over taking her. She reaches towards him, Nico sees through blurry eyes, tears sliding down his cheeks. He feels Will's arm wrap around him, welcomes the warmth it brings. He can't speak, too stunned by news of Bianca's rebirth-his sister, he would never see her again. He cries harder, allowing himself to mourn her, her and his mother, and everything else he lost, for the first time since her death.

He turns in Will's embrace, pushing his head into Will's neck and wrapping him arms around his shoulders. Will lays his head on Nico's, black and blond hair colliding in dance of light and dark as he whispers soothing words to Nico. 

Maria smiles sadly, feeling the energy tethering her to this world seeping away. She has said what she needed to, said the words that have been tormenting her for so long. She's done here.

Maria whispers a last farewell to her son, knowing that the boy holding him will keep him safe. She knows he truly will when the blond haired boy's eyes, a piercing blue, shoot up to meet her. She knows when the boy, holding her son in in his arms tightly and Nico cries into his neck, will care for her son when he nods once, sober and serious and caring.

Before she departs a final time, Maria pulls the wandering spirits gathered around the clearing to her. She fills the hole, dispels the liquid, and disappears, fading until she is no more than a whisper of a long forgotten memory.

She can rest, now. 

 

AFTER

Will had carried Nico, sleeping now, back to the van. He sat in the back seat, holding Nico on his lap while they had been driven back to camp by silent Jason. Jason had taken one look at Nico passed out in Will's arms, and opened the back door silently, shutting it behind them. He hadn't said a word the entire time driving back to camp. 

Once they had arrived, Will carried Nico down to Cabin 13, laying him down on his bed, only pulling off Nico's jacket and both of their shoes. He closed the curtains, made sure that there was a glass of water, ambrosia, and a couple of aspirin on Nico's bedside table.

Will slipped into bed beside Nico, pulling him close. Nico snuggled into his arms, a small sigh escaping him. Will tugged the blanket-a light one, it was still summer, after all-up to their shoulders.

They didn't wake 'til morning.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first EVER work ever. I have no beta. Hope you enjoyed it!!
> 
> Comments and kudos are very much appreciated!!!


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